ISA 2012 Automation Week Track: Wireless Thursday, 27 September, 3:15-4:45 pm, Room 205A Marcos Taccolini Tatsoft, LLC During past decades, we experienced major technology shifts, which created new generations of products, user-interface, and solutions for automation projects. Like the transition from the PDP and VMS systems on the 1970s, the adoptions of PCs on the 1980s, Windows in the1990s, the first decade of the new century had put together a whole set of technologies—delivering again a new major change on the solutions architecture and on the engineering development tools.
This new generation of applications, absent of another formal name, in this presentation will be referred as “The Cloud—iPad Era,” as some of the major influences to the current technology shift can be identified by the keywords “Cloud” and “iPad.” In this context, “Cloud” means more than SaaS, but also it refers to the increase of connectivity, network bandwidth, wireless systems, and new distributed computing environments such as .NET framework. “iPad”, in this context, refers not only to iPad or iPhone apps, but to the growing use of tablets, smart devices, and the change on user expectations, which was triggered by those devices but also affects desktop and corporate applications.
“The Cloud—iPad Era” presentation will give a description on the combined technologies that are modeling the next generation on industrial automation software and the key features those tools will now deliver; as practical examples, some potential applications using cloud technologies with be reviewed. The session will also discuss some paradigm shifts on Human Interface created by the iPads that goes beyond mobile devices, affecting desktop HMI, SCADA, MES, and situation awareness systems. The conclusion will address the adoption of the new technologies in replacement, or combined, with the legacy installed systems.
